After a long climb through a flurry of critical press and combative local legislation, Uber has broken through into positive consumer perception territory for the first time, passing rival Lyft in the process.
Since the beginning of this year, awareness of Uber’s brand among adults 18 and over improved from 48% to 65%. These numbers place it far ahead of competitor Lyft, which increased to a far smaller degree during the same time period from 13% to 18%.
Despite such a huge difference in brand awareness, Uber has spent most of the year working its way through more negative perception from consumers than positive, while Lyft has remained steadily, but modestly, positive.
That changed around June 1st, when Uber broke into positive numbers and then a few days later, passed Lyft’s perception levels.
Uber has also seen its potential revenue levels gradually increase over Lyft as well. However, unlike brand recognition, the gap is small and the percentages are low, underscoring how far this industry has to go – 8% of adults 18 and over would consider using Uber the next time they are looking for a ride service, versus 2% for Lyft.
Uber and Lyft’s consumer perception was measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"
A Buzz score can range of -100 to 100 with a zero score equaling a neutral position.
On January 1st, Uber’s Buzz score was -10, reaching zero on May 25th, and surpassing Lyft with a score of 2 on June 4th. Uber’s current Buzz score is 3.
Lyft’s Buzz score was 1 at the beginning of the year and remains unchanged.
